Posted at: 09/21/2009 3:57 PM
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700 Elk Near Pine Island to be Shot, Tested for Disease
PINE ISLAND, Minn. (AP) - Rifle shooters will work in the next week and a half to destroy 700 elk in southeastern Minnesota that could have chronic wasting disease.
Staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife service division began their work at the elk farm near Pine Island on Friday, about nine months after brain samples from a female elk tested positive for the disease.
Because it isn't possible to test live animals, officials say the entire herd must be destroyed.
Samples from the dead elk will be sent to the USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for testing.
Chronic wasting disease is an illness that attacks members of the deer and elk family's brain and nervous systems. --- Information from: Post-Bulletin,
http://www.postbulletin.com
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
